Disaster at Djerba
During a period of European peace, Spain sought to establish control of the Mediterranean. Yet a disastrous attempt to oust the Ottomans from North Africa threatened to accelerate the westward advance of Islam.
History Today
Evil May Day 1517
Foreign traders were attracted to the City of London by England’s prosperous trade in wool and cloth. They were not always made welcome.
The Great Expedition
A Danish-German survey sought to unearth the roots of the Hebrew Bible in Arabia. It became the first to comprehend a new Islamic ideology, which now threatens the West.
The Hardest Word?
Is it ahistorical for public figures to say sorry for events that took place before they were born? The issue cuts to the heart of the relationship between the living and the dead.
Portrait of the Author as a Historian: Pramoedya Ananta Toer
In newly independent Indonesia, nationalism, communism and Islam competed for the attention of the people. But the country’s greatest novelist saw humanity behind the ideologies.
The Queen's Encomium
In commissioning her biography, Emma, wife to two kings of England, created a subtle yet audacious piece of propaganda, used to maintain her position and secure her reputation.
Predicting the Fall of Anne Boleyn
In his pursuit of Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell was guided by a prophecy foretelling treason.
Justifying Slavery
The changing shape of the slave trade in the medieval Mediterranean.
Hidden but not lost
Writing a history of transgender people poses unique problems.
Newswomen in Revolt
New US equality laws in the 1960s meant a revolution in journalism, as the women of the press fought for their place.